#107 Genesis - From Genesis to Revelation

Part of the Genesis kick.

Some of you are probably saying 'for all your fanaticism about this band you've never heard their first album?'. It is a bit weird, I confess. But I'd had the impression ingrained that it wasn't worth hearing, and I didn't have it handy, and I hadn't really been in a Genesisey mood at a point previously in this project. Also these guys have a ton of albums. Also, I sort of forgot I'd never heard it. Also, its got a Pablo Honey-level reputation for not having much to do with what they did later.

And, frankly, that's about the right point of comparison. This simply sounds nothing like what they did later, no long songs, no complex structures, tons of syrupy strings and horns, which I hear were added against the band's wishes anyway. The only thing that's really here for comparison purposes is a triple dose of their later flirtations with stargazing and myth. Enough of what its not, what is it? Mostly 60's pop. I've heard it compared to The Moody Blues, which is fair; to me it mostly sounds like The Zombies, and not in a good way. The strings really are awful, the production really overwrought, the structures too repetitive, the lyrics generally embarrassingly wide-eyed.

That said, it has these little flashes of brilliance, the garagey rattle of guitar and bass on In the Beginning, the bass and mellotron (I think?) on The Conquerer, the outro of the last track. Actually, all the bass. And actually all of Am I Very Wrong. And actually all of The Serpent, which is the sole glimpse of what the band would become, and actually a pretty rad garage rock song in its own right. And that's the tricky part, you have to ask the "what if this was some random band's only album?" question that will change your perception of otherwise disappointing albums like the Pumpkins' Adore. Would this be awesome if it was some super obscure hidden gem, instead of a false start for a huge band? No, the strings still suck. But from that perspective, its definitely got enough randomly great moments to earn a 3/5